Thor Industries Tops $1 Billion in 3Q Revenue

Thor Industries Inc. today (May 2) announced record sales as well as an improved backlog for its fiscal third quarter and nine months, ended April 30. The third quarter was the first time in the company’s history in which quarterly sales exceeded $1 billion.

Sales in the third quarter were a record $1.05 billion, up 13.3% from $926.5 million in the third quarter last year. RV sales totaled $929.3 million, a 15.1% increase from $807.2 million a year ago. Towable RV sales grew 9.1% to $742.1 million from $680.5 million while motorized RV sales in the third quarter increased 47.8% to $187.2 million from $126.7 million. Bus sales were flat at $119.2 million compared to $119.3 million the previous year.

For the nine months, Thor posted sales of $2.67 billion, up 21.4% from $2.2 billion last year. RV sales grew 24.6% to $2.33 billion from $1.87 billion last year. Towable RV sales during the period totaled $1.9 billion, up 17.3% from $1.62 billion the year prior while motorized RV sales rose to $423.2 million, up 72 % from $246.1 million. Bus sales were $338.4 million, a 3.6% gain from $326.6 million last year.

Consolidated backlog on April 30 increased 28% to $849.2 million from the previous year. RV backlog was $649.6 million, up 44.9% from the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2012. Towable RV backlog increased 27.1% to $439.6 million and motorized RV backlog more than doubled to $210 million. Bus backlog was $199.6 million, down 7.2% from the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2012.

“Thor achieved record sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 based on the strength of the overall RV market and in particular, the growing recovery of the motorized RV market. We have seen improving retail traffic and increased dealer optimism as signs of a healthy market entering the seasonally important spring and summer selling period,” said Peter B. Orthwein, Thor chairman and CEO. “Although we are still in very competitive environments in both RVs and buses, we believe Thor is positioned well to support future growth in both of our businesses. We expect to report our third-quarter operating results on June 6.”